I think that I shall never see.. a blog as eclectic as this !

Now here’s another example of good intentions being used as paving material to Hell. The Motorcycle Helmet Act or as I would like to call it, That Dang Helmet Law.

Having a Helmet Law was well and good. It was all about the safety and welfare of the bike-riding public after all. I take issue however on the following points:

First, the DTI and BPS should not have been given the sole task of testing the helmets as such a task should have been a joint effort of the DTI, BPS, DOTC, and LTO as implementation will ultimately rest with the latter two.

I had always thought that issues of safety in transportation fell under the jurisdiction of LTO. If so, why was DTI given the sole responsibility and power to issue guidelines with regards to specifications and standards of the motorcycle helmets?

It can be surmised from Section 7, Letter c, that wearing a helmet, whether it had passed international safety standards or not, without a PS or ICC sticker would be a violation of the law as such helmet may be deemed not standard or substandard and as such, unsafe for use. This, of course, was absolute nonsense. Safety got nothing to do whether a helmet got the sticker or not. Suppose I buy a helmet with a PS or ICC sticker and then remove it later on; does that mean my supposedly safe or standard helmet was now substandard and unsafe? Why bother the consumer in the first place? That’s really messed up! DTI should ensure that all helmets being sold in shops and stores were up to standards and consumers got nothing to do with that. Shops and stores do.

Plus, that damned sticker requirement just gives police and enforces more ammunition to stop and harass riders during checkpoints and what-not. Sigh. What morons we elect into office…we only have ourselves to blame, I suppose.

Requiring riders and pillion riders to wear helmet was really a good idea and that should have been the gist of this stupid law. But no. It seemed to be more interested in this ICC and PS stickers nonsense. I say, leave the ICC and PS stickers out of it when dealing with riders. Just require them to wear helmets of the approved brands and apprehend those who are either not wearing any helmet at all or who are wearing damaged helmets or helmets without straps. Just concentrate on the shops and stores. No shop or store should helmets that did not pass DTI and LTO’s standards.

It’s a good thing indeed that DOTC had ordered the LTO to delay enforcement of this stupid, stupid law until the end of the year. Why, just do a simple Google search on the subject matter and you’ll the commotion and confusion this so-called masterpiece of Mr. Bong Revilla has wreaked. I used to refer to him as Senator Revilla but now, I’ll just refer to him as Mr. Revilla. Thank you very much. Thank you for nothing.

*credits to the blog owner

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About Ross Del Rosario

I specialized in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). I'm also a public servant, a social media evangelist, and an entrepreneur. My personality is a mix of all genres, with a penchant for the absurd and graphically pleasing. I'm the IT professional who’s more into substance and creativity rather than structure and complexity, the gamer who takes a long time to finish a game because I often lose track of time admiring the eye-candy, and the sci-fi fanatic who who often ponders on the opportunity to experiment on people like lab animals minus the gross stuff like dissecting frogs (this last one is a joke).